Inspired by these wonderful animals, we decided to create Lava Lake Lamb pet treats. These treats are made from 100% grass-fed all-natural or certified organic lamb, along with all-natural potatoes and vegetables.

After passing out a few treats to some lucky pets, we’ve already heard that even the pickiest dogs go crazy for these Lava Lake Lamb pet treats. Our resident barn cats also love them.

What makes them so popular? We use only the finest natural ingredients; these treats are made without the use of hormones or antibiotics, and contain no artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives. Learn more about these treats on the site, and try them out with your pet. We’re sure they will love them!

I love when food finds its way into film. I leave films about food feeling as though I tasted every morsel depicted, when of course all I can do is watch the way an actor reacts to that first bite. My favorite example of this is in Ratatouille, when Anton Ego takes his first bite of Remy’s creation and is sent back to his childhood. What a marvelous scene!

Pixar

This year’s Oscars features two great films about food, one inspiring and one, frankly frightening.

Sony Pictures

Meryl Streep is wonderful as Julia Child; her fabulous portrayal of Julia’s quirks made me smile throughout the film, and when I returned home, I couldn’t help but gather friends and cook up a French feast. To see the real Julia in action, check out this fabulous episode of Julia Child cooking Renaissance Inspired Leg of Lamb with Lynn Rosetta Casper.

Food, Inc on the other hand, tells the disturbing story of the evolution of our food system into one completely dominated by industrial agriculture. After watching this film, one realizes how important it is to support SOLE (sustainable, organic, local and ethical) food, and to talk to your farmer/rancher. Check out the preview here, and be sure to see both of these great films.

The Lava Lake staff is comprised entirely of enthusiastic winter athletes, and at the start of everyday we find ourselves discussing the highlights and dramas presented by Bob Costas the previous night. We are all training hard over our lunch breaks to make the 2014 team (Mike, Mike and Jen in nordic, Annie in hockey, and Cheryl and Tim are probably going for ice dancing).

In honor of the amazing feats being accomplished by the winter athletes, here are some ideas for internationally themed lamb recipes:

Last night on CBS, Katie Couric took an in depth look at the practice of feeding antibiotics to livestock. Factory farmers who want to keep their herds healthy and growing quickly have found that the easiest and most cost-efficient way to do so is to include small doses of antibiotics in the livestock feed.

What’s wrong with keeping your hogs healthy? Well, as Couric points out, “some people say giving animals antibiotics to prevent illness or promote growth is like putting antibiotics in a child’s cereal.” Overuse of antibiotics leads to the creation of super-bugs, or antibiotic resistant bacterial strains. At one poultry plant in Arkansas, 37 workers developed MSRA, or methicillin resistant staph, an infection very difficult to treat due to its resistance to most antibiotics. More than one person developed an MSRA infection 12 times. The report also mentions a study carried out by the University of Iowa, which found that 70% of hogs and 64% of workers on several farms in the midwest contained a strain of MSRA. At farms that don’t use antibiotics, not a single strain of the infection was found. These are scary numbers.

So what’s the bottom line? You need to know that your meat is antibiotic free. And the best way to be sure is to talk to your farmer. You can feel confident eating Lava Lake Lamb, because we never feed our animals antibiotics.

To learn more, watch the clip here, or read the accompanying article. You can check out the second half of Couric’s two-part series, tonight on CBS.

This week on Oprah: Rosie O’Donnell, Denise Richards and tomorrow, Michael Pollan. What a lineup! I know that we’ve been talking about Oprah more than you might expect of a sustainable grass fed lamb ranch, but we’re still so excited about our mention in the O Magazine article on online food shopping, and we can’t wait to hear what Michael Pollan suggests to Oprah’s millions of viewers.

We were honored to host Michael Pollan at Lava Lake Ranch in the fall of 2008. Mr. Pollan was in town to give a lecture at the Sun Valley Center for the Arts, and spent the afternoon touring Lava Lake Ranch on horseback and learning about our efforts to raise lamb in an environmentally sound, sustainable manner.

Michael Pollan’s investigations into our food systems and the culture and economics of eating have helped fuel a food revolution in America, with more and more people considering the impact their food choices have on their local economies, the environment, and the planet. Pollan is the author, most recently, of Food Rules and In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto. His previous book, The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals, was named one of the ten best books of 2006 by the New York Times and the Washington Post.

We got ours and found ourselves featured! Writer Celia Barbour takes a look at ordering food on the internet. She describes the art of being a foodie without getting out of bed, taking quizzes from a virtual cheesemonger set up by Murray’s and the patron saint of food delivery, Queen Isabella. Barbour also looks into the sustainability of buying food online and learns some interesting things from Christopher Weber, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering at Carnegie Mellon University. Here’s what the article has to say about us:

Another benefit of buying online from places like…Lava Lake Lamb…is that you experience the culture and backstory of a product: where it comes from, who makes it, and how it’s made. Add in recipes and evocative pictures—Lava Lake Lamb’s sausage sizzling on a skillet over a campfire in the Pioneer Mountains…—and you quickly find yourself in a kind of closed loop of craving and buying.

Here’s the full article, plus a list of links that accompanies the article. We’re really excited to get the Oprah stamp of approval!

Bar Gernika, one of the most popular Basque eateries in Boise will begin serving Lava Lake Lamb today!

The restaurant is famous for its traditional Basque dishes, like the lamb dip sandwich, lamb grinder and lamb stew. The popular spot even made it onto Guy Fieri’s Food Network show, Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.

We love stopping into this great restaurant whenever we’re in Boise and are so excited that their delicious dishes will become even tastier now that they feature grass fed and finished Lava Lake Lamb. Be sure to check it out next time you’re in Boise!